Canada's New $100 Bills Melt When It's Hot

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And that brings us to today's last word in business: melty money.

The Bank of Canada released new hundred dollar bills in 2011. The high-tech bank notes are made of polymers. They're sort of like plastic bills. The goal was to make them indestructible. They were put through a lot of tests. They were put through the wash, frozen, boiled. But some Canadians who have their hands on the money say the plastic bills melt when subjected to extreme heat.

Publicly, the Bank of Canada is not confirming any flaw. But this week, it did release internal records about the bills to the Canadian press. The pages though, were mostly blacked out, not shedding a whole lot of light on the bills. The bank says that's because doing so could "endanger national security or international relations," end quote. This clearly remains a very hot topic in Canada.

That is the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

I'm Steve Inskeep. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.